Tobar an Dualchais - Kist O Riches

Update

We are pleased to announce that this site is currently being upgraded and moved to a new technical platform, which will ensure that access to content can be maintained going forward. This is the first stage of an exciting project to secure the future of Tobar an Dualchais / Kist o Riches.

We are also delighted to report that after a busy year, there are now over 40,000 tracks available on Tobar an Dualchais / Kist o Riches, with lots more new material ready to be released once we have transitioned to the new platform this autumn. There will be no further updates until then.

We are very grateful to all of this year’s funders: Aberdeen Asset Management, Bòrd na Gàidhlig, Gaelic Language Promotion Trust, Paulsen Familiae Foundation, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Saint Andrew’s Society of New York State, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Scottish Funding Council and University of Edinburgh.

This website contains over 40,000 oral recordings made in Scotland and further afield, from the 1930s onwards.
The items you can listen to include stories, songs, music, poetry and factual information.

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The Brahan Seer’s prophecies have intrigued people for centuries and such is his reputation that his predictions are still spoken of today.

Most of what we know about him and his prophecies has come from the oral tradition and, according to folklore, the Brahan Seer’s birth name was Kenneth Mackenzie. He was said to have been born in Uig on the Isle of Lewis in the 17th century and was known as Coinneach Odhar in Gaelic. There is no documentary evidence of his existence at this time but there is a record of a Coinneach Odhar in court archives who was accused of witchcraft in the 16th century.

He is said to have prophesised many events such as the Second World War, the demise of various Scottish clans, the Battle of Culloden, the construction of the Caledonian Canal, and the introduction of railway lines across the Highlands. A book of the Brahan Seer’s prophecies was first published by Alexander Mackenzie in 1877. There has been much speculation about whether the predictions originated from one person and if the Brahan Seer really existed.

According to legend, the Brahan Seer worked for the third Earl of Seaforth and was employed as a labourer at Brahan Castle near Dingwall when one of his prophecies led to his own brutal death. The Earl of Seaforth was away in France and his wife, Countess Isabella, wanted news of his welfare. The Brahan Seer had a vision of the Earl with another woman and when he told her of this, the Countess had him burned alive in a barrel of hot tar at Chanonry Point on the Black Isle.

The Brahan Seer was said to have used a stone with a hole in the middle to see his visions and there are various tales as to how the stone came into his possession. Some say that he fell asleep on a fairy hill and awoke to find it in his pocket and in other accounts he found the stone in a raven’s nest. In this version told by Donald Sinclair from Tiree, the Brahan Seer was on a beach one night when he met the phantom of a drowned maiden who told him where to find the stone, one that she herself had used for prophecy. Donald refers to him as ‘Dun Kenneth’ which is a translation of his Gaelic name.